Pathways for youth mentoring: Merging communities of practice

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to elicit a richer conversation for youth development practitioners and academic researchers related to the approach of youth mentoring training based on Vygotsky's (1967) sociocultural and activity theory. More specifically to conceptualize and guide youth mentoring research, particularly in inner-city communities where the environments can be most challenging to the health, social and academic development of young people. Recently, there has been an increasing call for youth development researchers to direct their efforts toward solving contemporary social problems that plague today's youth, particularly in environments that are most challenging to the well- being and academic development of our young people. While youth development practitioners are seen as being on the 'front line' and continuously engaged in this endeavor, academic institutions are sometimes viewed by social activists as being self-serving and not fully committed to such endeavors. Using the principles of activity theory, this paper advances previous literature proposing a participatory paradigm as a basis for shared youth development work between practitioners and academic researchers. The paper describes the elements of a participatory youth mentoring training program and presents a case example to demonstrate its' characteristics